Commanding officer
Commanding Officers are a role filled by officers that are in command of a particular duty, such as commanding a UNSC starship or leading a Marine division. The status of commanding officer is duly applied to all commissioned officers who hold lawful command over a military unit, ship, or installation. Before a Naval officer is given control of a starship, they usually are given the rank of Captain before such control is given. In the Navy, commanding officer is the official title of the commander of a ship, but they are usually referred to as "the Captain" regardless of their actual rank, or informally referred to as "Skipper"Halo:Combat Evolved Captain Keyes (O.S.): "Bridge to Cryo 2, this is Captain Keyes. Send the Master Chief to the bridge immediately." / Tech Chief Thom Shephard: "Captain, we'll have to skip the weapons diagnostics and I-" / Captain Keyes (O.S.): "On the double, crewman." / Tech Chief Thom: "Aye aye sir. {Pause} The Skipper seems jumpy, we'd better get moving. We'll find your weapons later.". However, there have been Navy COs that held the rank of Commander, such as Captain Keyes before his promotion to Captain during the Battle of Sigma Octanus IVHalo: The Fall of Reach, pg 161. Marine COs are issued orders by the usually higher ranking Naval COs if on-board a starship. ''Halo: Combat Evolved Marine Battalion COs are usually Majors or Captains. Marine Platoon COs are usually Lieutenants. Commanding officers may be of any commissioned rank. Usually there are more officers than command positions available, and time spent in command is generally a key aspect of promotion, so the role of commanding officer is highly valued, and in theory only goes to the best officers. In a unit,The commanding officer is often assisted by an Executive Officer (XO) or Second-in-Command (2i/c), who handles personnel and day-to-day matters. Larger units may also have staff officers of various responsibilities. In the Army, the commanding officer of a platoon is referred to as a Platoon Leader. The commanding officer of a company is referred to as a Company Commander, the commanding officer of a battalion is referred to as a Battalion Commander, and the commanding officer of a brigade is referred to as a Brigade Commander. At the division level and higher, however, the commanding officer is referred to as the Commanding General, as these officers are normally of general rank. Known Navy Commanding Officers '''NOTE: The list is incomplete.' *Jacob KeyesHalo:Combat Evolved (Captain) *Danforth WhitcombHalo: First Strike (Vice Admiral) *Miranda KeyesHalo 2Halo 3 (Commander) *Fleet Admiral HarperHalo 2 (Fleet Admiral) *Jilan al-CygniHalo: Contact Harvest (Lieutenant Commander) *Lord Hood Halo Trilogy (Fleet Admiral, CO of the UNSC Home Fleet} *SPARTAN-051 Halo: Ghosts of Onyx (Lieutenant Commander) *Spartan-104 Halo:Ghosts of Onyx (Lieutenant Junior Grade) *Vice Admiral Margaret O. Parangosky Halo:Ghosts of Onyx (Vice Admiral) *Captain Gibson Halo:Ghosts of Onyx (Captain) *Rear Admiral Rich Halo:Ghosts of Onyx (Rear Admiral) *Lieutenant Commander Julian Waters Halo:Ghosts of Onyx (Lieutenant Commander) *Commander Richard Lash Halo:Ghosts of Onyx (Commander) *Captain Iglesias Halo:Ghosts of Onyx (Captain) *Admiral Patterson Halo:Ghosts of Onyx (Admiral) *Lieutenant Commander Xaing Cho Halo:Ghosts of Onyx (Lieutenant commander) *Lieutenant Bethany Durruno Halo:Ghosts of Onyx (Lieutenant) *Lieutenant Joe Yang Halo:Ghosts of Onyx (Lieutenant) *Admiral Roland Freemont Halo:The Fall of Reach (Admiral) *Admiral Ysionris Jeromi Halo:The Fall of Reach (Admiral) *Vice Admiral Preston Cole Halo:The Fall of Reach (Vice Admiral) Known Marine/Army Commanding Officers NOTE: This list is incomplete. *Antonio Silva (Major) *Melissa McKay (Lieutenant) *James Ackerson (Colonel) *Nicolas Strauss (Major General) *General Kits (General) Sources Category:UNSC